The present invention relates in general to an advantageous combination of two different types of stored data and more particularly to a system in which data in a high capacity format such as analog data contained in a first media is combined with a data in a media where the speed of retrieval is relatively fast such as digital data in random access memory (RAM).
The purpose of this invention is to combine high access speed memory with high capacity memory in a fashion that provides the most advantageous features of both. The advantage of said high speed memory, particularly in the form of digital random access memory (RAM), is that it permits rapid access to the desired data. The advantage of said high capacity memory (preferable analog) in the form of sequential tape is that it provides both economic and quantity storage of data.
Accordingly, it is a major purpose of the invention to provide such an interrelated combination of digital memory in RAM form with sequential memory, preferable in multi-unit form, to provide an optimum combination of speed of access and large data storage.
To put it another way, it is a major purpose of this invention to provide an optimum combination of (a) the speed of access of random access memory and (b) the data density and economic advantage of high capacity analog memory